The other day I had to go to the DMV. After driving for two weeks with an expired license including a trip to Orlando and back, I decided it was time to put on my big boy shorts and go get it renewed.
If you don't know I live WAY out. Literally half way between Atlanta and the S. Carolina state line. That wouldn't be so bad if I worked in S. Carolina but I don't. So I went to my local DMV in a smaller county.
I drove up, no one was there, maybe 10 cars. Walked in, no one was there, like perhaps eight people (I guess someone left a car overnight). Looking around, they were obviously using a number system to call people up to the counters but I couldn't see a ticket dispenser so I assumed they were slow and weren't using it.
So after a moment I sat down. The guy next to me told me I needed to go get a ticket from one of the counters. Cool! Nice guy. Should have bought him a starbucks.
After that smooth sailing. In and out in 15 minutes.
BUT, what if I didn't sit down next to the nice guy? How long could I have waited? How frustrated could I have gotten?
Everything was perfect except they blew the experience at a key point.
How often do we do that to people that walk in our doors or visit our website? I'd love to say never, but I know better. Perimeter is a big place, I often see people looking for this class or that prayer group. I always try to help someone if I notice.
How many people walk in on Sunday and walk right back out? We are responsible for that. We need to help them find a seat, get a bulletin, find the sermon downloads.
When we don't what kind of frustration do we cause? How long are we letting people sit in the lobby waiting for a number they didn't get? How can we empower members to be the nice guy that helps out?
One day when I'm smarter I'm write a top five on how to fix this. For today I'm just asking the question.
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